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DEPILATING HIDES A ND SKINS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 291,953, dated January15, 1884.

Application filed Xovember E2, 1883.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT I-l. STONE, a citizen of the United States,residing at New York city, in the county and State of New York, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Depilatories, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to depilating skins for obtaining wool and hair foruseful purposes and preparing the skins for leather 5 and it consists ofa new combination of materials for effecting the removal of the hair orwool without in ury to it or to the skins, employed in the manner asfollows: I use sixty-eight parts of sulphide of sodium in combinationwith equal parts of pure sulphur and carbon, preferring about sixteenparts each of the sulphur and carbon, but varying the same as may befound best, to be applied in solution varying in strength from 6 to 24Baum,without lime or any other ingredient. I apply this solution to theflesh side of each skin separately, witha Tampico brush, swab of burlap,or any other suitable distributer, fold the skins with the flesh sidein, and allow them to remain until the depilatory has taken effect.Then, after the skins have been depilated, I rinse them thoroughly incold water, either byhand,wheel, or centrifugal machine, and lime themfrom one to seven days in limes of medium strength, handling the skinsquickly and frequently un til ready to work out; or, if it is desired todispense with the use of the lime entirely, I immerse the skins, afterbeing depilated, in a weak solution of sulphide of sodium-from 4 to 10Baumand. allow them to remain from three to eight days,when they will beready to work out on the beam, and good results in leather will beobtained.

The employment of my invention as above described avoids thedisadvantages of the processes new in common use, as follows: In the oldsweating process the wool will not come loose until decomposition takesplace to a greater or less extent, and unless the greatest care isobserved the skins will sometimes be allowed to lie a little too long,or the heat will be a little too great, which spoils the skins formaking leather, and at the best the skins are more or less impoverished,and make inferior (No specimtns.)

leather. In the liming process, either when applied in the consistencyof cream to the flesh side of the skin or byimmersing the skinwith thehair or wool on in lime-water, the damage is chiefly to the wool, byreason of the contact of the lime therewith when wet, which renders itless valuable for most manufacturing purposes than wool free from lime,and the same objection exists, and to a greater extent, against the useof lime and red arsenic, also used, which render the wool harsh to thetouch, and, if kept long in bags or piles, destroy all the 11ature ofthe wool, causing it to be dry and brit tle and to lose its weight; and,besides, wool that has had the least bit of lime or lime and arsenicwill never scour perfectly white, but will always retain a yellow cast,and will not take certain bright aniline dies. The lime and the lime andarsenic processes are so dependent on the weather that the time requiredto sufficiently start the wool to allow of its removal is so veryuncertain that a puller never knows how many or how few skins can behandled, and in extremely cold weather it is almost impossible to workat all. The employment of my invention avoids these disadvantages. Itsuse is not materially injurious to either wool or skins; the results arealways certain and uniform; much less labor and handling of skinssufiiee to do the work; the products in wool, hair, and leatherare moremerchantable and valuable, and the leather has a fine close grain andtougher fiber, with no impoverishment nor less of weight.

By the employment of my invention the wool may be removed in thecomplctefleece, instead of separate bunches or handfuls, and so that thefleece may be rolled and kept intact to be sorted by the manufacturerinstead of the pull ers,which is desirable and important tomanufacturers.

In applying my improved depilatory I spread the skins, flesh side up,carefully on a table or elevated platform having a level and smoothsurface, where the operator may exercise greater care in applying it toall parts, and particularly in effecting uniform application along theedges byholding them out smoothly and evenly with one hand while usingthe swab or brush with the other, than can be done in the commonpracticeof laying the skins on the floor or in apile one upon another. lhus Iobtain better effects from the depilatory and avoid applying any of itto the hair or wool, .to which it is more orless injurious, though muchless so than lime, the solution being capable of brushing off readilylike water, while lime is of a sticky nature, which prevents it frombeing removed; and, besides, the effector. lime spreads in the hair orwool, so that alarge pile will be injured by a small batch of lime,while my depilatory will not at the most do any damage except to what itmay be directly attached.

Having thus described my invention, what 1 I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, 1 5

The improved depilatory, consisting of sulphide of sodium in combinationwith pure sulphur and carbon, substantially as described.

ALBERT H. STONE.

\Vitnesses:

W. J JMORGAN, A. P. THAYER.

